Pistons

Diamond Aircraft introduced a new version of its DA40 piston single that brings a number of welcome improvements to the cockpit. The DA40 XLT model for 2013 features wider front seats, air conditioning, burl-wood and carbon-fiber trim accents and other improvements that elevate the Austrian-designed four seater into a luxury cruiser. Not only are the […]

Merely one week after Pipistrel first cranked the 210 hp Lycoming engine on the four-seat Panthera, the company announced that it has completed the airplane’s first flight. With support provided by the Slovenian Armed Forces, test pilot Mirko Anžel and his co-pilot Sašo Knez took off from the Airport of Cerklje ob Krki, Slovenia, the […]

The new sleek Pipistrel Panthera four-seater appears to be progressing quite well. The company announced it has successfully completed the first engine start of the 210 horsepower Lycoming IO-390 that will eventually power the airplane. The test pilots got the engine started on the second attempt and taxied the airplane around the grass runway adjacent […]

Hopes for bringing a B-29 Superfortress named Doc back to life grew stronger this week as several business leaders in Wichita came together to form a non-profit organization called Doc’s Friends. The organization took ownership of the Superfortress, which was rescued by aviation enthusiast Tony Mazzolini and a group of historians who found the airplane […]

If this catches on, there will be jokes about adding a line on fuel order forms: “Do you want fries with that?” Last week, four members of the Paramus (New Jersey) Flying Club flew a Cessna 182 from Rhode Island to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, using a 50-50 mix of biofuel and jet-A. The biofuel, […]

Cessna completed its first production flight of its single-engine TTx in Independence, Kansas, reporting that the composite speedster performed exceptionally well and is ready to hit the market. Cessna’s TTx test pilot flew the airplane to 17,000 feet and achieved a speed of 213 knots. The TTx’s 310 hp Continental TSIO-550-C engine is capable of […]

A very special airplane made its first flight since undergoing a complete restoration at Paine Field in Everett, Washington. The Historic Flight Foundation’s DC-3 took to the skies over the weekend in its distinctive Pam Am paint scheme. The history of the foundation’s DC-3 began in 1944 as a C-47 in Asia, flying for the […]

Van’s Aircraft celebrated a milestone this week as the 8,000th confirmed RV kit airplane made its first flight. The airplane, an RV-7A built by Stephen Watson from Santa Clarita, California, took flight on Monday. At the completion of the flight, the builder proclaimed: “She flew like an RV.” Watson, who works at the Jet Propulsion […]

A new look has been bestowed upon the Memphis Belle (The Movie), the B-17 Flying Fortress used as the platform for the 1990 movie Memphis Belle, a fictionalized depiction of the airplane’s final mission. The B-17 is still in service and is operated by the Liberty Foundation, which uses the airplane to educate the public […]

After Fifi, the world’s only flying B-29, made a precautionary landing at AIRSHO in Midland last October, the big bomber hasn’t made another flight since. The problem, as most of our readers are aware, is that engine maintenance is expensive for all of us. When you factor in the cost of repairing one of the […]